Head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats motions to his players during the NCAA Men’s Final Four Championship against the Connecticut Huskies at AT&T Stadium on April 7, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Ronald Martinez, Getty Images)

Will John Calipari leave his coaching post at the University of Kentucky to take over for the Sacramento Kings?

This comes amid rumors of a degrading relationship between Kings head coach George Karl — who helmed Denver from 2005-13 — and star DeMarcus Cousins, according to Yahoo Sports.

From Yahoo:

Sacramento’s case on trying to get out of paying Karl his contract would be based in part on his involvement in mounting a campaign to get Cousins traded, sources said. The possibility of getting Karl ousted without pay is remote.

Karl signed a four-year, $15-million contract with Sacramento in February. He led the Kings to an 11-19 record in 30 games.

As the Denver Nuggets mulled their first-round decision on draft night Thursday, point guard Ty Lawson offered a few ideas of his own — while smoking a hookah.

A stream of Lawson and friends watching the draft and smoking was posted on Twitter Thursday evening. In the clip, Lawson tells a friend before the Nuggets’ first-round selection of Emmanuel Mudiay: “They’re probably gonna get Mudiay, then I’m gonna get a bunch of tweets about, ‘Yo, Ty, you’re getting traded.'”

Earlier in the clip, Lawson commented on Willie Cauley-Stein, the center out of Kentucky who was selected by the Sacramento Kings.

“Cauley-Stein getting drafted might mean Cousins is gone,” Lawson said of Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins. Lawson then sat back a inhaled the hookah as he awaited the Nuggets’ selection. He turned to the camera and said, “Tim Connelly, it was good.”

Later in the video, Lawson commented on the Nuggets’ 30-52 season, responding to a friend who claimed the Nuggets “suck.”

Sim Bhullar, then a center with New Mexico, towers above his teammates during a huddle in a game against the University of Denver men’s basketball team on Saturday, March 2, 2013, at Magness Arena. (Denver Post file)

By The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sim Bhullar became the first player of Indian descent to sign a contract with an NBA team Friday, inking a deal to join the Sacramento Kings in training camp. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“I’ve long believed that India is the next great frontier for the NBA, and adding a talented player like Sim only underscores the exponential growth basketball has experienced in that nation,” said Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, the league’s first Indian-born majority owner. “While Sim is the first player of Indian descent to sign with an NBA franchise, he represents one of many that will emerge from that region as the game continues to garner more attention and generate ever-increasing passion among a new generation of Indian fans.”

The 7-foot-5, 360-pound Bhullar was born in Toronto and played two seasons for New Mexico State, where he averaged 10.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks. He twice earned Western Athletic Conference tournament MVP honors and led the Aggies to back-to-back NCAA tournaments.

Paul George of the Indiana Pacers puts up a shot over P.J. Tucker of the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center on Jan. 22, 2014 in Phoenix. (Getty Images)

Spotlight on… Paul George, forward, Pacers.

When: While acknowledging a Herculean performance from the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, who scored a career-high and Madison Square Garden-record 62 points Friday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, we go with the guy leading the best team, Paul George of the Indiana Pacers, as The Denver Post’s NBA player of the week for the evaluation period of Jan. 18-24.

What’s up: George was terrific in four games, averaging 30.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals. He shot 55.1 percent from the field, including 44.8 percent from 3-point range, as the Pacers went 3-1 against Western Conference competition.

If a Yahoo! Sports report turns out to be true, basketball is on its way back to the Emerald City. According to the report, the Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloof family, is close to an agreement to sell the team to an ownership group that plans to move the team to Seattle as early as next season.

And that would make Nuggets coach George Karl, an ardent fan of Seattle, very, very happy.

When the SuperSonics were uprooted and moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, Karl, who spent seven years of his career coaching that team, said, “It killed me. It happened so quick.”

OK, I might be a little off – because Evan Fournier could play some point guard, too.

I know you’re thinking – “Ben, the dude doesn’t even play” (Well, really you’re thinking “BroncosBroncosBroncosBroncosBroncos,” but you stumbled on this blog because you accidentally under-clicked the link to the blog about Chris Harris).

Anyway, the Nuggets’ 20-year-old rookie keeps catching my eye, even in garbage time. And the Nuggets are very high on him. On Sunday, the Frenchman came in when the Nuggets took an 87-point lead against the Kings, and I’ll tell you, he’s just fun to watch. He has splendid body control as he dribbles and snakes his way through a defense. There was one play in particular, in which it appeared the defender had road-blocked the baseline, but Fournier somehow slithered past the guy.

Fournier played 12 minutes against the Kings, scoring seven points on 3-for-5 shooting, while also hitting his only 3-point attempt.

George Karl says he loves Fournier’s game, though as the coach said recently, “I know it doesn’t look like it.”

Fournier doesn’t play much (8.6 minutes per game, 3.9 points per game), in part due to the rapid-fire road schedule the Nuggets have endured. Karl has suggested that once the schedule lightens up in January, and Denver has some home games, that he’ll go to Fournier and Jordan Hamilton a little more often off the bench.

My favorite skill of Fournier’s is one you can’t necessarily teach – his swagger. He carries himself like he belongs. He’s seldom timid. That’s a nice foundation to build upon.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.